Streak sad but not surprised by Jarvis' decision

Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe captain, said that pacer Kyle Jarvis' retirement from international cricket was a big loss to the team, but stated he was not surprised by the bowler's decision.

Jarvis, who played eight Tests and 24 ODIs for Zimbabwe, quit international cricket on Sunday to take up an offer from an English county and said that he would not return to play cricket in Zimbabwe.

"I think it's a big loss for Zimbabwean cricket. We invested a lot in some of these players and its sad to see them just walk away," Streak told the website Cricketworld.com. "Again it's not surprising especially with the way these players have been treated. They are not valued as professionals, if you look at the late payments issues."

Jarvis' retirement is the latest in a string of problems facing Zimbabwe, including the stand-off between the players and the board over delayed payments. His absence will also weaken the Zimbabwe side as they take on Pakistan in a home series starting next week.

Citing the instance of Zimbabwe-born batsman Gary Ballance, who plays for Yorkshire and has also represented the England Lions, Streak said that cricketers could not be blamed for taking such decisions. He also said that the trend of cricketers opting to go overseas would continue unless they were treated well.

"You can't blame some of these players on the decisions they make. We see people like Gary Ballance decide to play county; you better ask the question 'Why?' The way these guys have been treated is like they are not professionals. That's why Tatenda (Taibu), Dougie (Hondo), Andy (Blignaut), Pommie (Mbangwa), Dougie Marillier have ended their careers prematurely," Streak said. "A lot of these guys could have still been around, they could be still playing but they are not. What's the problem? Until the players are treated as valuable products, this trend will continue."

Streak said the county experience would be beneficial for Jarvis. "I can't doubt that he will make an impact because you are judged according to your performances and you get treatment like you are a professional. Everything is perfect for one as a player," he said.

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Gloucestershire hold nerve to stay on course

Gloucestershire 251 for 8 (Klinger 87, Marshall 55) beat Glamorgan 247 for 7 (Rees 83, Goodwin 49) by two wickets
Scorecard

Michael Klinger once again led from the front as Gloucestershire kept alive their hopes of a place in the Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-finals with a thrilling two-wicket Group C win over Glamorgan at Bristol.

The captain took his run tally in the competition to 662 at an average of 94.57 by scoring 87 to help the hosts to their target of 248 with just one ball to spare. Hamish Marshall contributed 55, while Dean Cosker claimed 2 for 28 from his eight overs.

Gareth Rees had scored 83 off 110 balls to provide the backbone to Glamorgan's 247 for 7 after winning the toss, with Murray Goodwin also making a brisk 49 and Tom Smith returning two for 43.

Rees might have been run out in the opening over of the game as Mark Wallace sent him back attempting a single to backward point. Ian Cockbain's shy at the stumps missed when he could have given wicket-keeper Gareth Roderick time to get to the stumps.

The Glamorgan openers went on to build a half-century stand before Wallace departed for 18, caught at deep square as he pulled a ball from David Payne. Gloucestershire introduced the left-arm spin of Smith for the 16th over and the loan recruit from Middlesex had Chris Cooke caught behind cutting for 19 with the total on 83.

It was 95 for 3 when Marcus North fell cheaply to Smith. Rees reached fifty off 62 balls, with five fours, and survived a stumping chance off Smith when on 63.

After Jim Allenby lifted a catch to deep midwicket off Benny Howell, Goodwin supplied the necessary acceleration with six fours in his 32-ball innings, helping the score to 199 when he gave a catch to backward point.

Graham Wagg hit a straight six in making 19 before being yorked by Craig Miles and Rees took successive boundaries off the penultimate over, bowled by Payne before being caught at mid-off to give Miles a second wicket.

Gloucestershire made a confident start in reply as Klinger and Marshall put together a century opening stand, the latter hitting six fours in his 43-ball innings before offering a return catch to Cosker.

Klinger continued his love affair with the competition, striking nine fours in facing 99 deliveries before getting an inside edge on to his stumps off Simon Jones with 49 runs still needed.

There were nerves in the home dressing room when Alex Gidman followed for 28, but Howell played a key role with a six and a four off Jones in the 38th over, which cost the seamer 17, followed by another six off Wagg.

Wagg responded with two wickets in the same over, but the home side began the final one from Michael Hogan needing only five. He removed Smith caught and bowled, but James Fuller hit the winning boundary.

The result puts Gloucestershire level on points with group leaders Somerset, with the two arch-rivals facing each other at Bristol in the final group match tomorrow week. Glamorgan are two points adrift, but have two games remaining, at home to Leicestershire next Sunday and away to Yorkshire 24 hours later.

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Raina, Rohit cement India A advantage

South Africa A 20 for 1 (Hendricks 10, Unadkat 1-12) trail India A 582 for 9 dec (Raina 135, Rohit 119, Duminy 3-80) by 562 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

More toil awaited the South Africa A bowlers as Rohit Sharma, unbeaten on 70 overnight, scored his 16th first-class century and shared a 106-run stand with Suresh Raina to power India A past 500. India A's lower order then frustrated South Africa A before the visitors declared their innings at 582 for 9. South Africa were further hampered by the loss of Reeza Hendricks two overs before close of play.

The morning session began with Raina and Rohit playing out six consecutive maidens, but things changed rapidly in the 99th over when Rohit pulled Andrew Birch over the boundary line and Raina helped himself to two successive fours on the off side.

Unlike the one set at the start of the day, this scoring trend continued, capping off with Rohit stroking his 12th four, through the covers, to bring up his century. Raina celebrated his fifty soon after with a cut that found the boundary for four.

South Africa gained some respite after lunch, when Duminy had Rohit caught by Temba Bavuma at short leg. Ajinkya Rahane, another contender eyeing a slot in the senior side, struck two fours but became Duminy's second victim on the stroke of drinks. Wriddhiman Saha followed suit, falling to the Bavuma-Duminy combine as India went from 376 for 3 to 418 for 6.

However, Raina held firm, with a brisk Ishwar Pandey, for company and India A racked up 79 runs off 74 balls to reach 500. Raina brought up a vital century, his 12th in first-class cricket, and with the landmark behind him, tore into Duminy, slugging him for 19 runs in the 143rd over.

His wicket, eight balls after tea, ushered two more dismissals as India slipped to 500 for 9. An enterprising 82-run stand between No. 10 and 11, Jaydev Unadkat and Shahbaz Nadeem looked good to push India past 600, but Pujara chose to declare at 582 to have a few overs at the South African openers. The decision proved profitable as Hendricks nicked Unadkat to the keeper in the seventh over, two overs before close of play.

Rohit credited the time he spent in the middle to be more beneficial than his final score. "I'm happy that I played close to 250 balls," he said "Rather than getting 119, I feel facing that amount of balls was important.

"It was a crucial phase of the game when I went in and it was important that I stay in because we didn't want to lose any more wickets. I wanted to prove a point to myself, and nobody else, that I could battle out the situation if needed. In that process I didn't play my natural game, which normally includes a lot of shots."

Duminy conceded the new ball was doing a bit, but was hopeful of his side seeing it off and cashing in with the older ball.

"Conditions become easier to bat the longer you stay in but there is a little bit in it for the new ball," Duminy said. "It's quite an abrasive field so if you get past the new ball phase the ball gets old quite quickly and becomes flat. Hopefully we will be able to cash in on that."

"There is a little bit of help for the spinners," he added. "I think it is obviously because of the rough the seamers have created, which brings the offspinners into play."

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Leicestershire fold after Lineker ton

Unicorns 259 for 5 (Lineker 132) beat Leicestershire 217 (Cobb 53, Park 4-39) by 42 runs
Scorecard

Matt Lineker hit his second century in six days as Unicorns ended their Yorkshire Bank 40 season on a high with a 42-run victory against Leicestershire at Grace Road.

The 28-year-old former Derbyshire batsman scored 132 off 106 balls to steer Unicorns to 259 for 5 after they had been put into bat. It followed the 107 he made against Yorkshire last Tuesday.

And then a feeble batting performance by the Foxes saw them bowled out for 217 in 39 overs, with seamer Garry Park claiming career best one-day figures of 4 for 39, giving Unicorns the only win of the campaign in their final game. The shock defeat ended Leicestershire's slim hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

It was a lacklustre effort from the home side with both bat and ball, and some loose bowling allowed Lineker and Tom Lancefield to post an opening partnership of 114 in 23 overs. Lineker dominated the stand with some bold attacking shots, reaching 50 off 44 balls with six fours plus a massive six off Michael Thornely. The century partnership was brought up with a cheeky reverse sweep by Lancefield.

But having contributed 38 to the stand Lancefield was bowled by a quicker ball from Josh Cobb. Lineker however, continued to punish Leicestershire's wayward attack and Park also chipped in with a six off Alex Wyatt. Another boundary by Lineker - his 14th - took him to his century off 86 balls.

Park, who shared a stand of 81 in 10 overs with Lineker was bowled by Anthony Ireland for 31 and Bharat Tripathi was then beaten by a yorker from Shiv Thakor for 10. When Lineker finally holed out to long leg off Thornely he had hit 17 fours and two sixes. Unicorns scored 91 off the last 10 overs helped by 39 runs coming off two oves from Ireland and Thakor.

Leicestershire made a good start to the chase with Cobb hitting a run-a-ball half century in an opening stand of 89 with Niall O'Brien. But when the two of them were out in the space of five overs the innings disintegrated.

Only Ned Eckersley and Tom Wells offered any resistance, with Park picking up the wickets of Eckersley, Matt Boyce, Ireland and James Sykes to complete a memorable victory for Unicorns.

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Malan century dents Gloucestershire hopes

Middlesex 206 for 5 (Malan 113*) beat Gloucestershire 186 for 9 (Klinger 46, Harris 3-30) by 19 runs D/L
Scorecard

Dawid Malan's unbeaten 113, backed up by an impressive bowling display, earned Middlesex a 19-run Duckworth-Lewis win against Gloucestershire at Lord's which keeps alive their hopes of qualifying for the Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-finals.

Gloucestershire's own chances of making it out of Group C received a heavy blow as they could make only 186 for 9 in reply to Middlesex's 206 for 5.

A short shower, which interrupted the early part of the Middlesex innings, led to the match becoming a 38-over per side affair, with Gloucestershire's target being adjusted to 206 under the Duckworth-Lewis calculations.

Malan underpinned the Middlesex batting effort with his first hundred of a prolific YB40 season, facing 116 balls and hitting two sixes and nine fours in taking his run tally for the competition to 552 at an average of 78.85.

Eoin Morgan, unusually becalmed as he laboured through 48 balls, was Middlesex's next best scorer with 22 and at the halfway stage it seemed as if Gloucestershire, joint top of Group C when the match began with 13 points from their previous nine games, were well in contention. But Steven Finn and James Harris both snatched wickets in their opening overs and by the time they had finished their five-over new balls spells Gloucestershire's batsmen were already struggling to keep up with the required rate.

Finn, given fresh hope of an England Test return next week by news of Tim Bresnan's stress fracture injury, had Hamish Marshall caught at point from the first ball of the innings, and then Harris pulled off a smart return catch to remove Chris Dent for 2. Much depended on Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger, whose 46 took his own YB40 run tally to 575 at 95.83, and for a while he was well supported by Ian Cockbain in a stand of 81 for the third wicket.

But Cockbain then skied to mid-off, charging at Gareth Berg's medium pace, and Klinger - who had also been dropped on 13 and 19 - was stumped as he went down the pitch to try to heave a ball from left-arm spinner Ravi Patel into the Grandstand.

Patel then had Alex Gidman leg before wicket for 19 and Harris returned to bowl James Fuller for just 1. Benny Howell straight drove Toby Roland-Jones for six and swung him for another maximum next ball, but on 39 his bright effort ended with a skied catch to extra cover off the impressive Harris, who finished with 3 for 30.

There were also two wickets for Roland-Jones as Gloucestershire's late order swung with increasing desperation, with Gareth Roderick going for 13 and Ed Young for 12.

Malan was the only Middlesex batsman to get on top of some disciplined but largely unthreatening Gloucestershire bowling, with slow left-armer Young perhaps the pick of the attack with some clever variations of pace.

Paul Stirling fell to the first ball of the second over, inside-edging a drive into his stumps against Craig Miles, but Malan added 51 in just under 10 overs with Joe Denly for the second wicket before Denly was caught at extra cover for 21 from a leading edge as he looked to force medium-pacer Howell straight.

Morgan looked completely out of touch on a two-paced pitch, struggling through 45 balls for a mere 15 runs before lofting Miles over long-on for six for what proved to be his only boundary. On 22, and having been very much the junior partner in a stand of 65 with Malan, he tried a big hit at Chris Dent's occasional left-arm spin and skied to Klinger to end a curiously subdued innings from one of cricket's most destructive one-day batsmen.

Neil Dexter did manage to increase the scoring rate with 20 from 21 balls, helping Malan to put on a further 58 in eight overs for the fourth wicket, but he then mishit to point trying to slash away a ball from left-arm seamer David Payne.

Gareth Berg fell cheaply, bowled for three by Fuller, but Malan celebrated reaching his first YB40 century of the season by swinging Payne for six over the long deep midwicket boundary and, in the final over of the innings from Fuller, he added a second six to the same area. With John Simpson also taking a four from Fuller's last over, Middlesex's total was pushed above 200.

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Joyce century keeps Notts waiting

Sussex 293 for 6 (Joyce 123*, Shahzad 3-49) beat Nottinghamshire 290 for 5 (Hales 101, Hatchett 3-65) by four wickets
Scorecard

Nottinghamshire missed the chance to seal their place in the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Bank 40 after Sussex reached a daunting target of 291 to win by four wickets at Hove. They were led to victory by skipper Ed Joyce who carried his bat for an unbeaten 123, the 13th one-day hundred of his career.

Opener Alex Hales made 101 and David Hussey 82 as Nottinghamshire plundered 105 off the last 10 overs to post a formidable total of 290 for 5.

But Luke Wright and Joyce launched the reply with 112 off 13 overs and even when Wright fell for 62, Matt Machan, whose 51 came off just 28 balls, maintained the momentum. Sussex wobbled briefly towards the end of their chase before they got home with nine balls to spare.

Nottinghamshire now need to beat Kent at Canterbury in their final game on August 26 to make sure of their place in the last four. If they lose Northamptonshire, who are a point behind them in Group C, will go through instead if they win their last match against Warwickshire in Birmingham.

Notts made a bad start after winning the toss and batting first. Michael Lumb was lbw to the third ball of the innings from Lewis Hatchett and the same bowler picked up a second wicket in the third over. James Taylor, who played for Sussex last month as a guest against Australia, was superbly caught low down by Chris Jordan at slip to leave Notts 11 for 2.

But that was Sussex's last success for 16 overs as Hales and Samit Patel rebuilt the innings with a stand of 102 before Chris Liddle had Patel caught on the long-leg boundary off a slog-sweep for 43. Hales reached his 50 off 43 balls with his sixth boundary and went to his fourth List A hundred off a further 44 deliveries with 11 fours and a pulled six off Jordan. Two balls after reaching three figures he was superbly caught by Rory Hamilton-Brown running in from the long-on boundary.

Hussey had been dropped on 17 at short cover by Mike Yardy and he made the most of the reprieve, adding 81 in 45 balls with Riki Wessels as he finished undefeated on 82 from 64 balls with seven fours and a six.

A score of 290 should have been defended but Notts bowled poorly from the start and Sussex had 71 on the board at the end of the eight-over Power play. Wright, who made 114 on Tuesday against Netherlands was soon into his stride as he reached 50 from 33 balls and it was a surprise when he fell in the 13th over to a catch on the mid-wicket boundary after making 62 from 49 balls with three sixes and four fours.

He had given Sussex the perfect platform and Machan was soon taking Notts' attack apart, reaching his half-century from just 25 balls. He was caught at short fine-leg off Hussey for 51 but Sussex needed 83 from 17 overs at that stage and Joyce was in no mood to let the advantage slip.

There was a brief wobble when the Sharks lost four wickets for 26 in seven overs and things might have been different had Patel not spilled a straightforward chance at extra cover when Joyce was on 108. But Will Beer joined him to contribute an unbeaten 20 and sealed victory with a six off Jake Ball. Joyce's 123 - his second one-day hundred of the season - came off 109 balls with 16 boundaries.

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Ervine stays cool to lead Hants home

Hampshire 220 for 7 (Ervine 65*) beat Surrey 219 for 9 (Ansari 62) by three wickets
Scorecard

Sean Ervine guided holders Hampshire an important step nearer a place in the Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-finals with an unbeaten 65 as Surrey were beaten by three wickets with eight balls to spare at the Ageas Bowl.

Hampshire still have two Group B matches left in which to be sure of contesting the last four of the competition but they had to overcome a shaky start before finally defeating Surrey's brave challenge.

The two teams meet again in the semi-finals of the Friends Life t20 at Edgbaston on Saturday with Hampshire, also the holders, choosing the right time and place to confirm their superiority in one-day competitions.

At one stage Hampshire looked like losing when they were 128 for 6 in the 28th over, chasing 220 for victory, and it was then that Zimbabwean Ervine proved his worth in a match-winning stand of 71 for the seventh wicket with his captain Dimitri Mascarenhas, who is in his last season with the club.

Ervine and Mascarenhas took the score to 199 in the 37th over before Mascarenhas holed-out to Tim Linley but Chris Wood joined Ervine in striking some telling blows as Hampshire made light of the remainder of their target. Ervine made his runs off 63 balls and struck nine fours as Hampshire eased home, but there had been plenty of scares along the way before they could be sure of their eighth win in 10 group fixtures.

Surrey, put into bat, made an inauspicious start, losing their first four batsmen for 39, two of them to Mascarenhas, while all-rounder Ervine reduced Surrey to 79 for five when he removed Gary Wilson in the 19th over.

Surrey managed to put together a competitive 219 for 9 only because of two major stands, of 66 for the sixth wicket between Rory Burns and Zafar Ansari and 53 for the seventh between Ansari and Linley. Ansari provided the backbone to Surrey's total by making 62 in an innings which included a six off Liam Dawson and five fours while Sohail Tanvir, Mascarenhas and Wood each took two wickets for Hampshire.

Hampshire have relied heavily on their opening pair of James Vince and Michael Carberry in one-day matches this season but within eight balls both were out, Carberry caught behind to Chris Tremlett's third ball of the innings and Vince caught and bowled by Jon Lewis to the eighth.

Neil McKenzie and Jimmy Adams began a rally with a stand of 55 for the third wicket but at the halfway point, Hampshire were struggled to keep up with the run rate at 68 for four, still needing 152 at more than seven an over.

Dawson began the Hampshire acceleration with a brisk 40 only for Adam Wheater to be run out the ball after Dawson had been bowled by Zander de Bruyn, reducing Hampshire to 128 for 6. It was then that durable veterans Ervine and Mascarenhas came together, taking control of the bowling and using the experience accumulated over many years of just such situations to see Hampshire home.

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Durham fall at the feet of Madsen

Derbyshire 217 for 8 (Johnson 58) beat Durham 110 (Wainwright 4-11) by 107 runs
Scorecard

Durham's hopes of reaching the Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-finals were all but ended when Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen inspired his team to a crushing 107-run victory in Group B under the County Ground floodlights.

Madsen made 37 and shared a century stand with Richard Johnson as Derbyshire made 217 for 8 before he ambushed Durham with his off-spin to take 3 for 27 - his best figures in any form of cricket - as the visitors collapsed on a slow, turning Derby pitch.

Durham never recovered after Madsen reduced them to 62 for 4 and David Wainwright took a limited-overs career-best 4 for 11 to send the visitors crashing to 110 all out in the 29th over as Derbyshire ended a run of four defeats to Durham this season.

Durham had to win and started well against a weakened Derbyshire team missing Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Wes Durston, leaving their hosts in trouble on 36 for 3 in the ninth over. Mark Wood nibbled one away to have Ben Slater caught behind for six in the fourth over and after Chesney Hughes pulled Wood for six, he tried to repeat the shot against Chris Rushworth and holed out to deep midwicket for 24.

Derbyshire were struggling when Wood had Paul Borrington caught at gully but Madsen joined Johnson in a stand that put the Falcons back in the match. Johnson had a lucky escape when he was caught behind for 17 with the total on 61 but Ben Stokes had overstepped and that proved costly as the fourth-wicket pair worked the ball around to add 103 from 114 balls.

Madsen straight drove Gareth Breese for six and Johnson hit four fours in a 58-ball 50 before Paul Collingwood switched ends to remove them both in the 27th over. Madsen mistimed a pull and was caught at mid-on and three balls later, Collingwood cut one back to bowl Johnson but 22 from 15 balls by Tony Palladino and 25 extras lifted Derbyshire to a challenging total on a slow pitch.

It looked an even better when Madsen surprisingly opened with his occasional off-breaks and struck twice in a five-over spell that cost only 13 runs. Phil Mustard tried to cut a straight one and was bowled for a duck and Scott Borthwick pulled to deep-midwicket to put Durham on the back foot at 14 for 2.

Collingwood and Mark Stoneman added 46 in nine overs but it was not easy to force the pace and when Madsen returned at the Grandstand End, Stoneman was caught at long off for 25 when he tried to hit down the ground. It was impossible to keep Madsen out of the game and he took a simple catch in the next over when Collingwood pushed Tom Knight's left-arm spin to short extra-cover.

Knight struck another huge blow when he bowled the dangerous Stokes for nine and celebrated his best List A figures of 3 for 36 before Wainwright sealed victory with 11.4 overs remaining.

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Pietersen undergoes scan on knee

Kevin Pietersen has had a precautionary scan on his troublesome right knee but remains available for selection for the final Ashes Test at The Oval.

The ECB said the scan was part of the "ongoing monitoring process" Pietersen has been undergoing since the batsman returned from the tour of New Zealand with bone bruising in his knee. The problem ruled him out of the final Test in Auckland and the return series against New Zealand as well as the Champions Trophy.

The ECB statement added: "Kevin remains available for selection for the fifth Investec Ashes Test and will continue to receive treatment on his right knee as part of his rehabilitation programme over the course of remainder of the series and beyond."

With England 3-0 up in the Ashes there could be an opportunity to rest Pietersen even if, under other circumstances, he would be able to get through a Test, although Andy Flower, the team director, has already said he will be "fine". Flower previously confirmed that Pietersen would not be available to Surrey for the Friends Life t20 finals day on Saturday.

"He will be rested because of a couple of the niggles he has," Flower said on Tuesday. "I have spoken with [Surrey's interim coach] Alec Stewart about that. It would have been nice to have made him available but injuries have meant that he can't be. We're just resting his knee and calf.

"He has played four Test matches now and this is an opportunity to rest. We try to be as fair to the counties as possible and you might have noticed over the last couple of years that we do try and get them back with their counties where we can. It possibly happens more often than it used to six or seven years go. But in this instance we can't because of injury. He'll be fine for The Oval."

Pietersen was an injury doubt for the third Test at Old Trafford having picked up a calf strain at Lord's, but was passed fit and made a crucial 113 to help England avoid the follow-on and subsequently retain the Ashes in a rain-hit draw.

Speaking after his innings, Pietersen said he was an "old man" now and, following the Test, Flower said that the batsman would have to take extra care about looking after himself during the latter stage of his career. "He's in his early 30s - everything seems to hurt a bit more after long days and big innings," Flower said.

England will name their squad for the final Test on Saturday with the major decision being whether to rest James Anderson who has appeared jaded during the last couple of Tests. Graham Onions has suffered a broken finger which rules him out of contention but there could be a chance of Chris Tremlett, who has been part of the squad for the previous two Tests, being recalled on his home ground.

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Andy Pick hired as USACA High Performance Manager

The USA Cricket Association announced on Tuesday the appointment of former England Under-19 and Canada coach Andy Pick as USACA High Performance Manager in a move aimed at helping the USA form a more professional administrative cricket structure. Pick has been serving as the ICC Americas High Performance Manager since 2009 and will still be partially employed in that role as he splits his workload between the ICC Americas office in Toronto and USACA's headquarters in Florida.

"There is a lot of natural talent in the USA," Pick said in a USACA media release. "In the past, the pathway from talent discovery through to players becoming established international cricketers has not always been clear. Having been involved in high performance planning and delivery for the last 14 years, I hope I can make that pathway more accessible and transparent."

The official announcement of Pick's new role with USACA was hinted at through his more frequent appearances around USA teams and programmes in the past six months. In March, he was in Florida for USA's unofficial three-match 50-over series against Bermuda ahead of ICC WCL Division Three and was present as a sounding board during selection meetings to pick the squad that went to Bermuda a month later for the tournament.

In June, he organised and oversaw the inaugural USACA U-19 Selection Combine, which was designed as a new method to select USA's U-19 squad for the ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament. In the past, USACA had used domestic tournaments as a selection mechanism. Pick was in constant contact with USACA chief executive Darren Beazley while at the ICC Americas U-19 tournament and at the conclusion of the July event, he drove from Toronto to Miami to work with Beazley on a plan for the USA senior team to prepare them for the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in November.

"USACA is extremely pleased to have the support of an experienced cricket administrator such as Andy Pick to provide a dedicated focus on establishing the correct structures and processes to ensure USACA identifies and develops talent, wherever talented men and women reside across the country," Beazley said in the release. "His intimate knowledge of cricket in the USA and of our playing lists will be very important, particularly as our men's team commences preparation for the ICC T20 Qualifer in Dubai in November."

Pick has been a regular source of guidance and assistance to the USA through his ICC Americas position. In the winter of 2011, he spent time in New York and New Jersey organising weekly training courses for the region's junior players and coaches. He also set up a coaching clinic in March 2011 for the New York Public Schools Athletic League, the only high school cricket league in USA.

In April 2011, he organised a month-long training stint with reigning English county champions Nottinghamshire - where Pick played from 1983 to 1997 and also served as bowling coach - for USA players Muhammad Ghous and Adrian Gordon. Four months later, Pick and ICC Americas colleague Wendell Coppin conducted a 10-day training camp in Barbados for the USA Women's team to aid their preparation for the 2011 ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh.

In October 2010, Pick stated in an interview with ESPNcricinfo that he was impressed with the "abundance of natural talent" in the USA, but was worried that structures were not in place for proper development. "If I'm brutally honest, they have at the moment little framework beneath it to continue providing and developing their best players. That is part of my role, to try to work with the US to see if we can help rectify that situation." With his new role at USACA, Pick now has more control and authority to carry out that mission.

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